Mebeverine alleviates lower urinary tract symptoms in patients with irritable bowelsyndrome

Introduction: lower urinary tract symptoms (luts) arecommon in patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome(ibs). luts are categorized into storage, voiding and postmicturitionsymptoms. mebeverine, a voltage-gated sodiumchannel blocker, can alleviate ibs symptoms via inducing smoothmuscle relaxation. the effect of mebeverine on luts is notcleared yet. consequently, we aimed to evaluate the effect ofmebeverine on luts in ibs patients.materials and methods: seventy-five ibs patients wereincluded in the present study. ibs was diagnosed according to therome iv criteria. international prostate symptom score (i-pss)questionnaire was used to evaluate luts and quality of life inibs patient. patients were treated with 200 mg mebeverine perday. all patients were assessed once before the treatment and thenone, three and six months after the treatment with mebeverine.results: the prevalence and severity of voiding symptoms weresignificantly higher in males than females (p < 0.05). one-monthtreatment with mebeverine reduced storage and voiding urinarysymptoms in ibs patients (p < 0.01 and p < 0.0001, respectively).the beneficial effects of mebeverine increased over the time andthe maximum effect were found following six-months treatment(p < 0.0001). furthermore, using mebeverine in ibs patientsimproved the quality of life both in men and women (p < 0.0001).conclusion: mebeverine could obviously ameliorate bothgastrointestinal and urinary symptoms in ibs patients. thesefindings may propose that smooth muscle relaxants includingmebeverine might be proper therapeutic agents for ibs patientswith luts.